Antonio Conte crosses his fingers Alvaro Morata will be fit for Roma clash after shock defeat to Crystal Palace

With Michy Batshuayi continuing to struggle up front, Chelsea can at least hope to revert to their first-choice £60m man up top for the clash with Roma

Conte was desperately disappointed with the surprise defeat (Getty)

Antonio Conte hopes Alvaro Morata will be fit for Wednesday night's game with Roma, but his side missed the Spanish striker and midfielder N'Golo Kante as they went down 2-1 at Crystal Palace.

Tiemoue Bakayoko and Cesc Fabregas started in midfield for the champions but the Blues struggled to create against a Palace side set up to pick them apart on the counter.

And with Chelsea's balance not quite right, all three points were left with the hosts at Selhurst Park.

"To lose a player like Kante is not simple because he's able to cover a lot of the pitch," said Conte.

"But, for sure, I have to think also to take into consideration a solution.

"You know very well that the balance is very important if you want to win. The balance is very important. For sure, today, our balance was poor.”

With Michy Batshuayi labouring up front, a performance so poor that Conte preferred to end proceedings without a recognised centre-forward, Chelsea can at least hope to revert to their first-choice £60m man up top for the clash with Roma.

Batshuayi continues to struggle up front for Chelsea (Getty)

"Moses is out because he's injured. I don't know if his injury is serious or not. I hope not.

"Kante is still out, and I hope to have Morata back for this game.”